Domestic sales for the Printing Inks & Supplies Division declined 3.3% to ¥87.7 billion ($930 million) in 2011. Sales of gravure inks were even with fiscal year 2011, but sales of offset inks declined, due to an existing downward trend in demand and the loss of commercial rights for certain products in the wake of sales price revisions. However, operating income increased 15.3% to 15.1 million yen.

DIC Corporation and its subsidiary, Sun Chemical, faced challenges in the Americas and Europe, with net sales declining 4.0% to ¥218.6 billion ($2.32 billion), although in dollar terms, it remained flat. Sales of publishing inks and news inks, attributable to shrinking print runs for magazines and newspapers and other factors, declined, while packaging ink sales were strong.

Despite strong sales of gravure inks, sales in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) decreased due to slowing economic growth and other factors that pushed down sales of offset and news inks. Sales in Southeast Asia increased due to strong sales of gravure inks, while demand for offset inks declined. Sales in Oceania also rose, as the takeover of Pacific Inks Limited led to a major increase in flexo ink sales. Sales in India grew in all product categories.

In an important move, DIC Corporation decided in January 2013 to change its fiscal year-end, which is currently March 31, while its overseas subsidiaries end on Dec. 31. This will allow DIC to adopt a standard fiscal year-end across the entire Group. As a result, fiscal year 2013 for DIC will be a nine-month transitional period (April 1, 2013 –Dec. 31, 2013).

In July 2013, DIC Corporation and Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. agreed that their joint venture, DH Material Inc., will become a wholly owned subsidiary of DIC. DH Material was founded in February 2005 to handle the two companies’ unsaturated polyester resins and vinyl ester resins activities in Japan. DIC anticipates that overseas demand for these products will increase, particularly in China and Southeast Asia.

In December, 2012, DIC Corporation announced that PT. DIC Graphics of Jakarta, Indonesia, a wholly owned printing inks manufacturing and sales subsidiary, acquired the phthalocyanine blue crude and pigments businesses of Indonesian firm PT. Monokem Surya of Indonesia. This provides DIC with a base for organic pigment production in South East Asia.

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